Conveyer



M y 14, 19 .6. s. M. MERCER CONVEYER Original Filed Sept. '1, 1943INVENTOR; 5TANLEY M. MERGER, BY

Patented May 14, 1946 T 2,400,246 I "co'NvEYER 1 Claim.

This invention relates to a conveyor or elevator, and an object of theinvention is to provide such a device with an auxiliary pivotallymounted discharge chute to insure a very efficient discharge ofmaterial, while preventing damage to the conveyor or elevator in casethe conveyor mechanism strikes the chute.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novelfeatures and combinations being set forth in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of an elevator or conveyorincorporating the feature of my invention; and

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing particularly an auxiliarydischarge chute for guiding material from the conveyor buckets to themain discharge chute.

This application is a division of my application, Seria1 No. 500,799,filed September 1, 1943, for an Elevator.

The elevator or conveyor comprises a vertical or upwardly extendingtower or main frame 20 which, as viewed incross-section, is rectangularin shape and each of the four corners includes a vertical or uprightstructural member such as channel 2|. Each of the channels 2| in thefinally assembled condition of the main frame 20 constitutes acontinuous upright member which extends from the foot or bottom of themain frame 20 to the top thereof.

At their bottoms the channels 2| are provided with feet 22 preferablyrigidly attached to base members which may, for example, be mounted on apoured concrete base sunk sufficiently in the ground to provide a firmfoundation. At their tops the channel members 2| are rigidly connectedtogether by side I-beams 23 and cross channels 24, all of saidstructural members 2|, 23 and 24 being rigidly connected together. Alongthe sides, each of the two front and rear channel members 2| isconnected by one or more diagonal braces 25 as well as by horizontalangle braces 26.

The main frame or tower of the conveyor is an independentself-supporting structural unit and in fact it acts as a support for asectional housing or casing 40 which is built up by a head section 4|, afoot section 4'! and an intermediat section which includes a pluralityof removable panels or sections, a described in detail in my parentapplicationabove identified.

Mounted upon the I-beams 23 at the top of the main frame 20 is a pair ofspaced bearing boxes, one of which is seen at 29, the two bearing boxes29 supporting a horizontally extending head shaft 30 which supports apair of head sprockets, one of which is seen at 32, which co-operatewith and drive a pair of spaced endless chains, one

of which is seen at 33, of a bucket elevator or conveyor mechanism 34.Extending between the two chains 33 and carried thereby is a pluralityof buckets 35, said buckets 35 being rigidly attached adjacent theirsides to the inner side bars of the chains 33 by appropriate brackets orattachments 36.

The head section or part 4| comprises a totally enclosing hood made upof top, front, back and side plates, all rigidly connected together andreinforced by appropriate angle members and in which the interiorthereof is lined with a plastic insulating material, the insulatingmaterial being attached to the metal casing forming this section or partby appropriate studs, the heads of which are molded into the insulatingmaterial.

The head section or part Of casing 4| also includes a main dischargechute or spout 42, It is desirable to prevent as little carry over ofmaterial as possible or, in other words, to effect as nearly as possiblea complete discharge of the material onto the chute 42 as the buckets goover the head sprockets 32.

If this were attempted to be done by placing the upper edge of thedischarge chute 42 quite close to the path of travel of the lower edgeof each bucket 35, it is possible that during operation the said bucketedges might deviate with the chains from their normal paths of traveland hit the chute edge and cause damage to one or both. To produce thedesired result, yet to overcome the possibility of any damage, I providean auxiliary chute 43 which extends the full width of the main chute 42and is pivotally attached thereto on a horizontal axis at a point suchthat the bottom of said auxiliary chute will normally rest on the mainchute 42 while the top edge thereof is closely adjacent the path oftravel of the foremost edge of each bucket 35.

As a consequence of this structure, there is a minimum carry over ofmaterial from the working run to the return run of the conveyormechanism 34, and should the forward edge of any bucket 35 strike theupper edge of the auxiliary chute 43, said chute 43 is free to pivotabout its horizontal axis provided by pivot bolts 44 so as to preventany damage to either the bucket or the auxiliary chute 43. Since thepivotal axis of chute 43 is to the right of its center of gravity, asviewed in Fig. 2, it is evident that the left-hand end thereof willautomatically move downwardly and restore the auxiliary chute 43 to itsnormal position, as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawing, as soon as itis released by the passing of any bucket which has contacted it.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in thedetails and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined by the claim hereto appended, and Itherefore wish not to be restricted to the precise construction hereindisclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of my invention, what Idesire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

In a conveyor, the combination with a casing having a main dischargechute, of a conveyor mechanism therein including an endless chain havingbuckets carried thereby for elevating material, said buckets dischargingsaid material into said chute as the buckets approach the chute, and anauxiliary chute pivotally mounted within said main discharge chute andhaving its upper inner end edge closer to said buckets than said maindischarge .chuta'said upper inner end edge of the auxiliary "chute beingspaced outwardly from the outermost edges of said buckets passingadjacent it when said conveyor chain travels in its normal path and saidauxiliary chute being freely swingable and pivoted with its center ofgravity out-

